The New York Civil LibertiesUnion released the iPhone version of their Stop & Frisk app that allows users to film and immediately send footage directly to the NYCLU. They released the Android app last June and one of their earliest videos is now the center piece of their ad.

Amazing.

Today on TWiB Radio we were joined by Jennifer Carnig from the NYCLU who explained the development of the app and warned folks to use their best judgment. Seriously, if the police get froggy, Put. The phone. Down.

And on TWiB! in the Morning the crew drops some Black History Month facts (like it used to be a week, but you know how us Negroes are… ;-) ), false understandings of what Breakfast does for the body, the story behind some of the lowest paid people in America and more. Check it out here:

https://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpg00Elon James Whitehttps://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpgElon James White2013-02-07 21:01:172013-02-07 21:01:17Stop-and-Frisk? There’s an App for That …

I hope NYPD are better shots than the LAPD; one of the two trucks shot up in Torrance, CA, this morning was riddled with bullets (one witness said 30 shots, one said 50 shots)…

…but, blessedly, the newspaper deliverers weren’t injured too badly. One was grazed in the hand and one shot in the back. This will be a Ron White joke someday (“nice shooting, Elmer”).

Now, LAPD, et al, has invaded Big Bear; since there are lots and lots of places to roll a car off a cliff (where it might never be found in those mountains), this Dude parking it and lighting it up tells me he ain’t there no more.

ETA: Oh, yeah, site borked in Chrome, bigtime. Someone forget to feed the Cat this morning?

Can someone explain something to me? My local RWNJ radio station regularly mocks “global warming” every time it freezes or perhaps snows (a rare occurrence here) and yet they do frequent shows on “sea level rise” with guests that talk about all of the various insurance implications of living on the beach and how sea level rise is going to impact all of those beach front homes. How can one rationally discuss sea level rise and yet completely and utterly discount global warming/climate change?

On the ACLU cam topic, I think it is a great idea. I would actually be in favor of every official interaction between cop and suspect or detainee being videoed. It would provide a clear record of not only what was said by all parties but also it would show tone of voice and body language. A sarcastic or incredulous “I did it” would be differentiated from an actual admission. Okay, there are technical details to be worked out, but I think it is worth consideration.

@Elon James White: Yeah, and a cop who has no objection to being taped is probably not going to do anything intentionally bad. One may catch sloppy work that counsel can use in case of an arrest, but that is about it. Car cameras and cameras in interrogation rooms need to become ubiquitous. And failure to record something should be grounds to throw doubt on it. Cops should feel that they are being watched and recorded.

OT question for Elon: Kingsley IS half-Indian, so playing Gandhi is one thing, but now he’s half-Mongolian? Really? Do you think they could/should have chosen a more suitable actor for The Mandarin?

I genuinely don’t understand why we can’t simply cast an Asian actor for the part of an Asian. There isn’t an argument like “Well all the characters are Asian so we wanted to introduce some diversity into this situation.” JUST CAST SOMEONE ASIAN!

Car cameras and cameras in interrogation rooms need to become ubiquitous. And failure to record something should be grounds to throw doubt on it. Cops should feel that they are being watched and recorded.

Amen, amen, amen! Especially with cameras being ridiculously cheap, small and portable.

I do alum interviews for my alma matter and I had a really fun one a couple of years ago – young east asian woman who told me her main goal in life was to start up a theatre troup organised around the principle of blind casting – that is that any person of any gender age or colour could audition for and play any role. Her particular goal was to increase outreach to school kids – something she was already doing – because when she told her mom she wanted to go into performing and producing her mom sat her down and explained that asian girls can’t be famous actors and she never wanted to have another girl hear that talk.

OT question for Elon: Kingsley IS half-Indian, so playing Gandhi is one thing, but now he’s half-Mongolian? Really? Do you think they could/should have chosen a more suitable actor for The Mandarin?

I genuinely don’t understand why we can’t simply cast an Asian actor for the part of an Asian. There isn’t an argument like “Well all the characters are Asian so we wanted to introduce some diversity into this situation.” JUST CAST SOMEONE ASIAN!

The character of The Mandarin in the Marvel universe is half-Chinese (not Mongolian) and half-English. So if you cast an East Asian actor, then he also doesn’t fit, since he’d have to be half white.

Again, it’s called acting. Actors are pretending. They don’t actually have to be the thing they’re pretending to be. Linda Hunt was not a small Indonesian man.

I genuinely don’t understand why we can’t simply cast an Asian actor for the part of an Asian. There isn’t an argument like “Well all the characters are Asian so we wanted to introduce some diversity into this situation.” JUST CAST SOMEONE ASIAN!

I think this train left the Marvel Universe station once they cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Idris Elba, whose parents are from Sierra Leone and Ghana, as the Norse god Heimdal….

I genuinely don’t understand why we can’t simply cast an Asian actor for the part of an Asian. There isn’t an argument like “Well all the characters are Asian so we wanted to introduce some diversity into this situation.” JUST CAST SOMEONE ASIAN!

Also, too: BEN KINGSLEY IS ASIAN! His real name is Krishna Pandit Bhanji, and he’s of Gujarati descent on his father’s side.

I think this train left the Marvel Universe station once they cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Idris Elba, whose parents are from Sierra Leone and Ghana, as the Norse god Heimdal….

Nick Fury is Black in the Ultimate Avengers which the Avengers movies are based on. As for Idris Elba–they went for a slight reinterpretation adding an Asian dude as well as Idris. Adding a dash of diversity to what would end up being a an all white cast I dont see as problematic. Hollywood movies aren’t in need of more white guys–where as reasonable portrayals of characters of color by actors of color seems to be an up hill battle.

Nick Fury is Black in the Ultimate Avengers which the Avengers movies are based on.

No, Nick Fury is white in the Marvel Universe, and has been so for fifty years. However, when Marvel made him black in Ultimate Avengers about ten years, they did so specifically with Samuel L. Jackson and possible movies in mind and drew him to look like him. So it’s a bit of a tautology.

And while Ultimates had some influence on the movie (i.e. Black Nick Fury), the movie was not “based” solely on Ultimates, but drew also from Classic Avengers. It’s a mish-mash.

where as reasonable portrayals of characters of color by actors of color seems to be an up hill battle.

And Ben Kingsley is an actor of color. He’s Asian. So you should be happy.

The denizens of Asgard are not Norse, they were worshiped by the Norse.

Sure, but in the real world and in the Marvel comics the Nrse gods were white, not black. They certainly didn’t look like Idris Elba.

Hogun the Grim is clearly not Norse yet he is clearly Aesir.

Hogun isn’t from actual Norse mythology, he’s just a character Stan Lee dreamed up as part of a Three Musketeers rip-off/homage. He’s supposed to be a mix of Athos and Charles Bronson, basically, but as a superhero/god.

Also, too, Ultimate Nick Fury was drawn as Sam Jackson long before the movies were made.

No, Fury was drawn as Jackson beginning in 2001, at which time Marvel was already under way with talks to turn their properties into multiple movies. Jackson first appeared as Fury in 2008’s Iron Man, but given movie lead times the idea of turning Jackson specifically into Fury had been around for six or seven years.

But again, it’s a tautology. Nick Fury was a white guy for fifty years. Then in 2001 he was redrawn as Sam Jackson, in large part so they could get Sam Jackson to play him in the upcoming movies.

“Stop and Frisk” is racial profiling plain and simple. This is illegal behavior on the part of law enforcement and is a breach of civil rights for anyone stopped, regardless of race. The actions and abuse by the NYPD are filling the definition of a “Police State.” You can read much more about cops running amuck and how they’ve violated civil liberties across the country at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.....state.html

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